All Saints Church 'walk the pipe' for Kagando's hydro-electric power plant

Members of All Saints Church have been making good use of their allowed exercise in January as a number of them supported a fundraising scheme for a partner charity project.

Kagando is a small village in Uganda which is home to a hospital serving the needs of the rural population around of some 350,000 people. The 250 unit has an unstable electric supply and so the charitable trust Friends of Kagando has begun fundraising the £1m needed to build a Hydro-Electric power plant to make use of a nearby mountain stream.

Lindfield resident and charity trustee Helen Tuddenham said: They experience almost daily interruptions to the electricity power supply. As trustees, we often discuss how we can best financially support the hospital in a sustainable way, allowing them to be more financially independent, and a hydroelectric power scheme would both save costs and generate income from selling surplus power to the local grid.”

Fellow church member Sarah Beeston commented: Having visited a hospital in another African country several years ago I have seen first hand the desperate need for resources. The more I heard about this Kagando project, the more I could envisage the need for the hospital to be self-sustaining and able to offer the best possible care to their community.”

Participants pledged to walk 2.5k each day in January – the equivalent of the length of pipe need to divert the water from the stream to the new power house. All Saints has set up a JustGiving page which can be found here: http://bit.ly/2KfjnGr

Oathall Community College - Crowdfunding science and maths excellence

Across the country, Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) are hosting quiz nights, fairs and coffee mornings to raise money for schools. At Oathall Community College they have decided to try something different for their next fundraising project.

“We wanted to be a bit more ambitious this year,” explains Karen Crockford, current Chair of Oathall Community College PTA. “We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that having a new Science and Maths block provides and involve the local community in our fundraising through a crowdfunding campaign.”

Oathall Community College has secured funding from West Sussex County Council to completely refurbish the Science and Mathematics block. It will see the dated 1970s building replaced with a modern, purpose-built resource housing eight maths classrooms and eight science labs including prep rooms and an IT suite.

The new space will also have many small improvements to make a big difference. Headteacher Edward Rodriguez led some members of the PTA on a tour of the site last month and explained: “Little things like the raising of the windowsill height in the labs just makes sense. Students can also walk right through the building now, which will vastly improve the flow at peak times.” 

The PTA hopes to raise £25,000 to equip the building with state of the art teaching resources. Karen said: “This is not about replacing test tubes, heat mats and calculators; it is about providing students at Oathall Community College with the latest technological advances and resources to bring science and maths alive in the classroom and inspire a love of the subjects.”

Items to be purchased include digital microscopes, interactive anatomical models, a planetarium and a linear air trap.

Mr Rodriguez, who has been key in planning the space and specifying the new science labs, explained: “We have an opportunity to make this school a real centre for excellence. This extra equipment will enable students to try new experiments and, as a result, gain greater understanding of the subject.”

Crowdfunding is an online platform for raising funds by asking a large number of people to each make a small donation. It enables not only those directly involved in a project to make a contribution, but also people in the wider community to support a worthwhile cause. 

Karen continued: “For instance, we are hoping that former pupils and their parents will want to give something back in this way.”

For donors there are rewards on offer for their generosity including a public thank you on Facebook, your name entered onto a fabulous display of donors that will adorn the entrance wall, the possibility of having a plaque with your name on a microscope, the opportunity to attend the grand opening in September with a celebrity guest or even the chance to have a classroom named after you .

The crowdfunding campaign launches on Tuesday 22nd May and the team hopes to have raised the £25,000 by 22nd July 2018.

If you are interested in finding out more please email the PTA team at opta @ oathall.org, visit the Oathall Community College PTA Facebook page or visit the crowdfunding page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/oathall-pta which went live on Tuesday 22nd May.